There is not a single phenomenon belonging to samsara or nirvana, from visibleform through to omniscience, which is beyond the nature of this Great Perfectionor great emptiness.This ultimate meaning is rigpa's self radiance beyond theexperiences of shamatha, or the thinking and mental analysis of vipashyana. Praythat you may see this naked dharmata reality, like the sun free of clouds, withthe wisdom of discriminating awareness.

When you train in the practice of tögal, material reality can evaporate intorainbow experience, and the kayas and tiklés can be experienced as the radianceand dynamic energy of rigpa. This equates to the lesser and middle stages of thepath of cultivation, from the second to the seventh bhumi, and the second visionof tögal, which is known as 'increased experience'.

After that you will arrive at the third vision. Here, rigpa's strength isenhanced, maturing into the fullness of sambhogakaya perfection. This isequivalent to the greater stage of the path of cultivation, from the seventh tothe tenth bhumi. This is the point at which you perceive directly thesambhogakaya fields and the buddhas of the five families.

Finally you reach the level where all perception of phenomenal reality wearsout, and the conceptual mind dies into the state of total enlightenment. This isthe fourth vision, the fruition of Dzogpachenpo, and it is equivalent to thepath of no more learning, or the level of buddhahood, the eleventh bhumi ofuniversal radiance.

Pray that you may gain the stronghold of the youthful vase body, the meaning ofwhich has been explained above, free from birth and death, the dharmakaya withits two-fold purity.

If you accomplish the practice of the great Atiyoga, and obtain the confidenceof the ultimate state of the dissolution of phenomena, beyond the ordinary mind,there will be no need for you to wander in the bardos. But if you do not masterthe practice in this life, your gross physical body will not be liberated intothe pure space of the rainbow body.

Then, when the constituents of life fall apart at the completion of the stagesof dissolution at death, you should recognize the ground luminosity as thedharmakaya, pure from the beginning, as soon as your consciousness reawakens.

At this point, the ground luminosity will dawn in the minds of all beings,without exception. The only difference will be in terms of how long it appearsfor, and whether or not it is recognized. If you do recognize the dharmakaya,you will be liberated.

For those who have gained some familiarity with the practices of kyérim ortögal, the appearances of the bardo of dharmata experience will arise insambhogakaya forms; and they will be liberated through meditating on theirillusory nature.

On the path of trekchö, all the rigidity of mind's clinging to an "I" wherethere is no "I", and a self where there is no self, is cut through withMadhyamika Prasangika reasoning and the resulting conviction that an "I" or a"self" does not exist. Then, by examining where mind arises, dwells and ceases,you become certain of the absence of any true reality.

In tögal, all apparent objects are understood to be the energy and display ofmind and are brought to perfection by the mind itself.

So, in the bardos, at first when you lose consciousness or stray into delusion,meditate immediately on the meaning of selflessness, and use your familiaritywith the forms of the deities in tögal, or meditate on the illusory form of thedeity as in kyérim. Pray that through the power of such practices you may beliberated, as naturally as a child running into its mother's lap.

In this great secret mantrayana path of luminosity Dzogpachenpo the summit ofall, enlightenment is to be sought nowhere but in the dharmakaya face of yourown mind through relying upon the instructions of Atiyoga. Yet if you are notliberated into the primordial state by actualizing this, then there are the fivepractices of 'enlightenment without meditating for a long time': liberationthrough tasting the samaya substances, through takdrol, through touching themudras, through seeing the chakras, and through hearing and remembering thephowa.

Pray that you may be born into the nirmanakaya realms of the five buddhafamilies, such as Dewachen, through practising the phowa method of enlightenmentwithout meditation. And pray especially that you may take birth in the "Palaceof Lotus Light," the Zangdokpalri heaven of Guru Rinpoche.

Pray that you may take birth in the presence of the Lord of Orgyen himself,chief of the ocean of vidyadhara masters, while he is celebrating the feast ofthe great secret mantra Dharma, and that you may become his favourite son ordaughter. And pray that, having taken birth there, you may traverse the fourlevels of a vidyadhara, and reach the level of Samantabhadra. Then, emanatingnirmanakaya forms to take on the task of helping limitless beings, may you bringbenefit and happiness to them all

Pray that through the inspiration and blessing of the ocean of victoriousvidyadharas, and by the truth of the infinite dharmadhatu, beyond conception,and with this free and well-favoured human form, you may actualize theauspicious interconnection of perfecting the activity of the buddhas andbodhisattvas, ripening the minds of sentient beings, and purifying the wholeouter and inner world into pure lands, and attain the state of buddhahood.

Take this practice to heart by combining your prayers of aspiration with actualmind training.